1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutter for cutting continuous paper with one portion thereof uncut and a thermal printer having the above cutter.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are some cases where a paper cutter for cutting a continuous paper which has been printed, with one portion thereof uncut, is installed in, for example, an order input device and the like for printing out the menu ordered by a customer in a fast food restaurant, a family restaurant, and the like. Hereafter, this cut is referred to as a partial cut.
The partial cut is used for various purposes of preventing the full cut paper from falling down into the device inversely from the outlet, aligning several sheets of paper with the contents of orders printed there in a sequence of the orders in a state of being connected by one portion, by supplying the paper without tearing off the uncut portion according to the partial cut when receiving the orders sequentially, and the like.
Generally, the paper appearing from the outlet after a partial cut is divided into each one sheet by a user pulling the paper and tearing off the uncut portion. In case of the partial cut in which an uncut portion of the paper is left on the right side, when a user pulls the paper, holding the left side of the paper, the cut portion of the paper is opened and a force concentrates on the root at the base of the cut, thereby making it easy to tear off the uncut portion.
However, when a user pulls the paper straightly holding the side of the uncut portion of the paper, even if the width of the uncut portion is small, a force is dispersed in this portion, and therefore, in some cases, the uncut portion cannot be torn off easily even if a user pulls it strongly. At this time, there is a fear of reeling out the connected paper from the device. When the paper is reeled out, there are such a problem that the space on the top of the paper will be expanded at the next print-out and such a fear that the paper is swayed at a forwarding time.
Generally, a thermal printer for putting the paper between a printing head and a platen, for printing, is provided in a prior stage of the cutter performing the partial cut, and the paper is in a state of being held by the pressure of the printing head and the platen. Therefore, when the paper is pulled in a state of being uncut with a force stronger than this holding force, the paper will be reeled out. Recently, however, the pressure between the printing head and the platen tends to become lower, and therefore, a problem of reeling out the paper by pulling the partial cut paper becomes more and more serious.